Marrow drive could mean all the difference
By From staff reports
Published in News on March 12, 2018 5:50 AM
MOUNT OLIVE -- Six-year-old Thor was born with sickle cell anemia. He's had 29 blood transfusions during his short lifetime.
Nick Dombalis has MDS (pre-leukemia). He is a husband, father of four and grandfather. He is a practicing attorney and restaurateur. He is devoted to his family and his community.
Both need bone marrow transplants
The families of both are working with Be The Match in hope that their loved ones and others can find a matching donor who can make their life-saving marrow transplant possible.
Rotary of Mount Olive, the University of Mount Olive Student Athlete Advisory Committee and the university's Honors Program will sponsor a Be The Match registration from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursday, March 22, in the Murphy Regional Center on the university campus.
"Many of you may know of this as a bone marrow drive," Rotary Club President Al Southerland told the Mount Olive Town Board at its Monday night meeting. "If you are between the ages of 18 and 44, or know someone in this age group, we encourage you to be a part of this event.
"In addition to being in this age group, all you have to do is to fill out a registration form and have the inside of your cheek swabbed. The only other requirement, which is the most important, is to be committed to donating if you match a person in need."
Southerland said he was stressing that point because of a 9-year-old boy in New Bern who had leukemia and needed a bone marrow transplant.
A match was found.
"Everybody was excited about it," he said. "Prior to them going through the procedure, the match declined. That was pretty much a death sentence for this young man."
Donors will be added to the Be The Match registry.
Every day, thousands of patients are diagnosed with life-threatening diseases like leukemia. Many patients hope for a marrow donor who can make their transplant possible.
Rotary of Mount Olive and UMO students invite all eligible ages to join in their efforts to build the registry with new possible donors.
Many local patients like Thor and Dombalis need a matching donor who can make their transplant possible.
Because tissue typing is inherited, patients are more likely to match someone of their own ancestral background.
Patients need a matching tissue type which is different from a matching blood type.
Becoming a match is simpler than in times past.
New procedures may have the donor do no more than go through a process similar to a plasma donation.
If you are between the ages 18 and 44 and are unable to attend the event in person, you can join online at http://join.BeTheMatch.org/Mt. Olive and a swab kit will be sent to your home for you to self swab and send back to complete the testing process.
Be The Match is operated by the National Marrow Donor Program, a nonprofit organization founded in 1987.
Only about 30 percent of patients can find a suitably matched donor among their family members. The remaining 70 percent require an unrelated donor who can make their transplant possible.
Because the odds that two random individuals are HLA matched exceeds 1 in 20,000, a registry's success depends on a large number of volunteer donors.
For more information, contact Betsie Letterle, account executive -- Be The Match Marrow Registry, at 919-414-8312 or send email to [email protected].